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I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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I l^74M 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



li 

A) 



1876 



ITS 

CEJYTE^f^'ML CELEBBATIOK LK DAYTOjY. 

THE EXERCISES AT THE PARK. 



OI^.A.TIOISr 

OP „'-/ 

COLOJYEL M. P. JWLAJV, i^^ 



One hiindi-ed years have elapsed since the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence was produced and read for the first time in public at the central 
window of Independence Hall, Philadelphia, by Colonel John Nixon. 
Tliis being the one hundredth anniversary of our National independence, 
we have assembled to commemorate the glorious achievements of our 
ancestors, in producing to the world that declaration just read to you. 
As a people, we, on this Centennial occasion, have met in order to pay 
tliat tribute of gratitude and respect so justly due to those to whom, 
under God, we are indebted for the twin blessings, liberty and inde- 
pendence. 

Where is there a man with heart so cold, so lost to every generous 
impulse, that feels no thrill of enthusiasm shooting through his frame at 
tlie rehearsal of the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Charta of 
American liberty ? Where, I ask, is he who can listen to the sentiments 
therein expressed without being moved by the deepest gratitude to those 
who have thus nobly pledged themselves to stand or fall with the interests 
of their country, and who staked fortune, life, and sacred honor in defense 
of the right of self-government ? 

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The custom of our country which causes us upon this Centoniiial 
occasion to take from its shelt this paper to whicli we are intlebtcd so 
much, to expose it to the gaze of a free people, and read it to the decend- 
ants and successors of those who f)uglit and Med in its defense, has beeii 
complied with. We have listened with attention to its expressions; we 
have heard with pleasure the woitls of that sacred pledge given by the 
signers, to resist the encroachments of a tyrannical government; we have 
heard their calm, dignified, and, at the same time, bold and determined 
language ; we trace in every line their regret at tluMr appronching 
separation from the mother country. But we also trace their deter- 
minations never to submit to her unjust exactions. The Government 
of (}reat Britain little thought that among the humble descendants of the 
Pilgrims it would meet with men bold enough to set at defiance their whole 
power — men who would hurl back the haughty menaces of the King 
with scorn; men who would brave every danger and undergo every s])ecies 
of trial and suffering rather than abate one particle of that freedom which 
they had determined to obtain. Blindly trusting to their own ])ower, and 
ex})ecting nothing less than an unqualified sul)mission and passive oljcdi- 
ence from the colonies, in an evil hour for themselves the l^ritish IMinistry 
framed a l)ill which would authorize them to replenish their exhausted 
treasury and provide means to 2)rosecute aEuro])ean war by the ini])osition 
of unjust taxes on the colonies, thus a})proj)riating to themselves the 
wealth of the western world. In addition to this, the colonies had experi- 
enced most intolerable wrongs and injustice at the hands of the British 
(jovernment. They were goaded until patience ceased to be a virtue. 

But the obstinacy of the Bi-itish Goveninient soon put a stop to the 
forbearance of the colonial people. The crisis was inii)ending when they 
were to stand forth in defense of the pi'inciples coiitained in the declaration. 
They found that ])etitioning and remonstrances were not the arms that 
nuist be used in their defense, but that nothing less than open resistance 
could secure to them the rights and privileges i!onsistent with a free ])eo])le. 
The enforcenuuit of acts for their taxation was a signal for the colonists 
to throw off their lethargy and manfully a})j)eal to arms. They thought 
in anger upon the wrongs they had suffered ; they remembered that their 
fathers had been driven by ojtpression from old England to New England; 
they recall to their minds their stories of suffering and distress, and huiU^d 
back the insults of the mother country, with deteiniinaticms to achieve 
their independence or perish in the attempt, tiiky succekdkd ! 

After seven years of disastrous warfare, after an incredible amount 
of suffering and distress ; after a succession of disasters seldon: ('xperi- 
enced in the history of nations, and sufficient to have broken tlii' spirit 
of any other people on earth, they stood forth in tlu; ])ow(m- of freedom, 
proud of th(;ir liberty and their acts of heroism in achieving it. The arm 
of oppression was l)roken ; the struggle was now over, and Ameiica was 
free. The star of British glory ])aled and grew dim l)ef()re the rising sun 
of American Indei)endence. The old mangy lion of England crouched 
under tlu^ talons ot the young Anu^i-iean eagle. The new nation ai-ose 
like a pluenix emerging from its ashes. Itshon(> forth like the sun, when, 
disj)elling the mists of morning, he appeai-ed again, gladdcuiing nature 
with the return of light and life. It burst forth on the world's vision as 



boaiitiful as new. England wasted her treasure and shed the best blood 
of her subjects in an unsuccessful atteni])t to preserve her dominion over 
the colonies, whom by a course of moderation and justice, she might 
have attached inviolably to herself. 

Let us dwell for a moment u^Jon those men, as they pass before us in 
our minds, high and determined as they stood this day one hundred years 
ago, when about to sign the Declaration of Independence. Where on the 
pages of history can such an assemblage be found? Where can we read 
of such a body of men in the act of signing such a deed ? Does the valor 
of Leonidas, with his three hundred braves at Thermopelyie, equal their 
calm determination and the fixed })ui-pose of those liberators of our 
country? I» there an example on record of such cool and determined 
bravery called into action in su])i)ort of so sublime and patriotic a 
design ? Thei'e is not. 

How the fame which mighty despots have derived li'oui bloody con- 
quest sinks into insignificance when contrasted with the s])lendor which 
actions like these confer upon those who have achieved them ! How wan 
and pale are the cha])lets that deck the brow of a Ciesar or an Alexan- 
der when contra."-ted with the laurels which encircle the brows of a 
Washington or a Jefferson ! 

We tuiii with pleasure from the blood stained annals of other nations, 
whose every page is soiled with legends of ra])ii)e ami massacie, to the 
simple annals of our own Kevolution. The declaration declares that jdl 
men are created equal ; that they arc endowed by their Creator with 
certain natural, inherent, and inalineable rights, among which are life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of haj)iiiness. It denies the tyrant's dogma of 
the devine right of Kings to rule over mankind; it asserts that govern- 
ments derive their just jjOAvers from the consent of the governed, and 
solemidy affirms the riglitof the American peojile to govern themselves 
as a free and indejiendcnt nation. 

Then we liave the ordinjince of 1787, introduced by Nathen Dane, 
of Massachusetts, providing, among other things, that eveiy sixteenth 
section of all ])ublic lands shall be foiever dedicatetl to the su])i)ort of 
j)ublic schools, thus making the education of the future citizen a covenant 
running with the land. Wise provisions, for this vast I\ci)ublic, being of 
the ])eople, for the ])eo])le. and by the people, can only be maintained by 
an educated people. Ko tongue can s])eak nor pen write the dangei's of 
ignorance to a Government like this, so vast and so varied in its resouiees, 
so comprehensive in its connections, with its large and increasing po})nla- 
tion, and the composite nature of our people, all of which was, in the second 
decade of our Government, anticipated by the thinking minds of our 
early statesmen. 

The third paper writing we have is the Constitution. This is an 
instrument reducing to practice the principles of the I>eela)ation of Inde- 
pendence, or regulating liberty by law. It defines iind circumscril)es 
the ]K)weis and duties of the National Government. It was ordnined f)y 
the fathers, in order to form a "more perfect Union, establish justice, 
insure domestic tranquility, provide fov the common defense, promote 



the general welfare, and secure the ble.«sing.< of liberty to themselves and 
their posterity." 

In tlie one hundred years which this day terminates, we have had 
three grand e})Ochs, and Providence has furnished us with a man gifted 
for eacli emergency. 

THE FIRST EI'OC'H. 

In the darkest hour of the inlant Republic, we see the collossal form 
of "Washington emerging from the chaos, inspiring confidence in the 
desponding hearts of the adherents of freedom. His practical knowledge, 
his lieroic courage and endurance, his statesman-like vieAvs, his power to 
concilliate, his administrative capacity, and his success, gave to him the 
name of Father of his Country. Lowly as the colonies were when he 
assumed command, he was determined that they should not long so remain. 
He cheered them by his council ; he called upon them to assume their 
might, and convinced them of the strength that slumbered in their breasts. 
He put brave thouglits into their hearts and bold words into their mouths. 
Always he was their companion, and always he was their friend. He 
had the confidence of all; he was truly influential. His words were 
resistless, for they were the echoes of tiie hearts around him ; and to the 
beating of the hearts of the Revolutionary fathers, his own great heart 
kept time. He loved his country with an enthusiasm that death only 
could quench. She was the passion of his soul and the devotion of his life. 

THE SECOND EPOCH. 

England was never satisfied with the results of the Revohitionar}' 
"War. She kindled and kept burning in the untutored mind of the savage 
Indians malice against the frontier settlers, exciting them to acts of cruelty 
and outrage against defenseless women and children as well as men. She 
also excited against the settlers of the South and Lower Mississippi the 
enmity of France and Spain. She kept her fleets cruising off our bays 
and harbors, impressing our seamen, frequently landing swarms of sailors 
and mercenaries upon the coast, Avho plundered the people, and destroyed 
their property. One of her fleets ascended the Potomac, and in August, 
1814, burned the Capitol and its library, destroyed all the printing-offices, 
sending President IMadison on a pic-nic to Virginia. England was having 
things her own way ; but Jackson, stern and stoic, exclaimed: "By the 
Eternal, the power of England in these States must end." All he 
claimed he asserted, and all he asserted he accomplished. 

When the capitol fell, all eyes were turned toward New Orleans. 
England sent a large fleet and army to capture this unprotected gem of 
the South. Jackson, anticipating the design, assembled his forces in front 
of the city, assumed the res])onsibility of proclaiming martial law, ])l;iccd 
his litlle army beliind cotton bales, and received the advancing red-coats 
with all the warmth of his Celtic heart, and with such a destru(;tive fire 
as laid their dead bodies in winrows. 

Peckingham, the commander of this expedition, while crossing over 
the A-tlantic, paced the (juarter-deck of his flag-shij) in all 
" Pride, pomp, and ciroiimstaiice cif gl-jrioiis war." 

Landing at the head of fiftetm thousand victors of European battle- 
fields, on the eighth dav of January, IS]"), he comnKMiccd the attack. 



[5] 

Jackson rose above the storm, and was serene in the whirlwind. The 
annals of bloody strifes furnish no parallel to the carnange that ensued. 
Two thousand British soldiers, with their commander, fell. An army 
which never before retreated from a battle-field now fled in wild disorder 
from the avenging Jackson to their ships, bearing with them their dead 
commander. Jackson's loss was seven killed and six wounded. 

Upon the return voyage of that fleet there was lashed upon the main 
deck of the pi'incipal frigate a cask containing the remains of its late 
commander, embalmed, a la American, in pure distilled spirits, which 
were not produced in a registered distillery, that never saw a ganger, 
that had no United States Internal Revenue stamp u})Ou its bung-stave 
or either head, that never trickled through a Tyee meter or entered the 
portals of a bonded warehouse, After this expedition returned to Eng- 
land with all evidence of disaster, without even a trojihy, and nothing of 
interest aboard but the remains of its late commander still in the original 
package, she gave up the jieople of the United States as incorrigible, and 
abandoned us to our fate. Jackson ended all wars with England. With 
Clay, C'alhoun, and other contemporaries, he might not always have been 
right, but with his country he was never in the wr(nig. 

THIRD EPOCH. 

Nearly half a century had glided by when our people were subjected 
to another test by which we demonstrated to the world that, as a people, 
we were capable of self-government. Slavery, being the complete and 
absolute subjection of one man to the will, the conti'ol, and disposal of 
another man by legalized force, was long the bane of contention, and was 
a cancer left on the body politic by the framers of the Government for 
"peace sake," which spread gradually over the Southern States, and its 
noxious tendrils were creeping toward the free territories. This withering 
pestilence, so obnoxious to the civilized world, against justice, nature, 
religion and law, with its bloated carcass across the jmth of progress, 
must be eradicated. The election of Lincoln President in 1860, who was 
known as an anti-slavery man, and who had declared that this Govern- 
raentcould not endure half slave and half free, was seized upon as a pretext 
by the slave aristocracy for the secession of the slave-holding States, and 
tliereupon declared war by firing upon Fort Sumter, over wliich floated 
our flag, the ensign of American nationality, the visible emblem of the 
sovereignty of the Union, whose stars represent the sister States, whose 
stripes the original 13 States, and whose colors, courage, purity and truth. 

Tlie enemies of republics were swift to predict the downfall of ours 
at this crisis. But History, whose work is at best but gloomy, did not 
take up her pen to write the story of the American Republic in despair. 
At the first signal from President Lincoln the people res})onded. The 
fight was theirs. There assembled an army comprising the industry, 
wealth, intellect and muscle of the country, and as numerous and pesti- 
lential to the rebels as the grasshoppers to the Grangers. And slavery 
was obliterated. 

Lincoln, though elected by a party, became the Executive of all. 
Plis sim})licity of manners, his clear and unprejudiced mind, his integrity, 
his courage, and his clemency, won for him the appellation of " PL)nest 



1^1 

Old Abe." But the orowning glory of this man's life was his proclamation 
of Se])tember 22, 18(i2, by which four millions were emancipated ; and 
with tliat sublime event will the name of Abraham Lincoln be forever 
associated. But not with this circumstance alone will the name of Lin- 
coln be revered; but his fixme for the perpetuation of free institution will 
grow higher and brighter as freedom covers the earth, and until a slave 
is not known on the planet. 

A GLANCE AT HISTORY. 

We have our civilization from tho East, and its march westward 
round our globe, forming a zone of intellectual light as clearly discernible 
as the torrid, temperate or frigid zones. Within the historic period theve 
have existed three great races, from which we sprung — the Israelites, 
who had pride of race ; the Greeks, who had pride of knowledge, and the 
Romans, who had pride of power. Li the dimness of time, we begin 
with the land of Confucius, thence westward over the western countries 
of Asia, across Arabia into Africa, tarrying a while in Egypt, where, long 
before the Pharaohs, previous to the Jewish dispensation, before Josej)!! 
became a model of probity or speculated in wheat, and long anterior to 
the visits of Herodotus or Pythagorus, Egypt was mistress of the world. 

Taking another step westward, we find it passing along Asia Minor, 
crossing the Hellespont into Greece, where we see the dawn of the drama 
and get the first glimpse of a republic ; and Greece, in her day, through 
her law-givers, her arms, her arts, her orators, and her architecture, was 
the intellectual sun whose rays illuminated the worl.l both East and West. 

Then intelligence took another step westward, entei'ing the eastern 
confines of the Roman Empire, reaching as far as Italy, then extending 
over the Italian Peninsula and Sicily, when Rome arises august and 
majestic on both sides of the classic Tiber, whose very ruins speak man's 
skill as a mechanic in those temples where men have reasoned, and in 
the churches where women pray ; in its sculpture, painting, oratory, heroes, 
history, agriculture and its republic; and Rome in her day was the enor- 
mous head-light whose rays flashed across Western Europe, gilding the 
island heights of Britain and Hibernia. Rome had her decline when the 
western countries of Europe, her late colonial possessicms, sprang up from 
provinces to nations. 

France, in the days of Chai'lemagne, was tho center of learning, sci- 
ence and arts, and the dictator of Western l*hii-ope — a power she- n(,:v(M- 
relinquished until Richelieu ex])ired. 

Again progressing toward the setting sun, civilization penetrated all 
the west(;rn kingdoms of Euro})e, diffusing itself ovei' the Spanish Penin- 
sula and Portugal, leaving to us, as the creations of its progress, the cities 
ot Venice, Paris, Madeira, Genoa, Cordova, ^ntwerl), London, Lisbon, 
]5ologne, and Florence. For centuries men of learning from Greece and 
Rome penetrated the wilds. of Western Eui-ope, who weie the ferrymen 
between ancient and modern civilization, and who l)rought with them 
from those classic sti'ongholds mental materials for the schools and 
universities of the West. 

Again we move W(>stwai-d another step, and civilization crosses the 
English channel ; dittusing itself over the inlands of (Jreat Britain and 



[7] 

Ireland. The kings, princes, and nobles of England were the patrons of 
learning. Instruction was sought by kings and people alike. Subjects 
suggested to sovereigns. Magna Charta was wrenched from the iron 
gripe of King John. Freedom began to know her rights, and was gathering 
strength to maintain them. Bacon was sounding the depths of human 
understanding. Chivalry was melting before the ridicule of Cervantes 
in his " Don Quixote." The practical was banishing the I'omantic. Reli- 
gion was l)usying all brains. Philosophy was filling the earth with its 
wisdom and research. Poetry was covering the eaith with its charms. 
Fiction was delighting maidvind with its enchantments. Shakspeai-e 
arranged the seven ages of man, and " found tongues in trees, books in 
running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything." And the 
result of all tins we have the civil and common law of England — the 
science that distinguishes the " criterions of right and wrong." The heart 
of Europe palpitated. Traditional claims lost in every contest against 
natural justice. Commerce enlarged her boundaries ; wealth increased 
with enterprise. Independence had grown with industry, and the inter- 
ests of freedom went boldly forward. 

With Columbus civilization took its last long stride westward, and 
in the United States the zone is completed. And to-day we are the 
greatest people that the sun of heaven gladdens with his beams ; for here 
we have free institutions, possess free education, have a thirst for know- 
ledge, and the spirit of progress. The people of no other country could 
have produced the Declaration of Independence ; could have conformed 
to its spirit and teachings, preserved it intact, and lived up to its letter. 
Here the people govern themselves ; each one is a stockholder, with shares 
paid up. The usages and customs of a civilized people are the gradual 
results of their wants and wishes. 

Besides, the physical structure of our country, so extensive and 
diversified, can not produce an indifferent peoj)le ; and the minds of the 
people partake of the largeness of the land they inhabit; for here all 
creeds, nationalities and cohn-s are tolerated and protected. Here all 
are peers and none are peasants. 

Within the century our people have shot up in strength and prtjs- 
perity beyond the most visionary calculations. Beginning witli thirteen 
States and three million inhabitants scattered along the Atlantic coast, 
now we have forty millions of inhabitants, and thirty-eight States and nine 
Territories, extending from ocean to ocean, across which we whis})er in an 
instant by telegraph, or glide over in a few hours by rail. A land that 
teems with industry; the Union gives the laborer homes, suffrage, wages, 
l)eace, plenty, equality, and educates his children. Asa people, we have 
cotni)lied with the Scriptural injunction, "Go forth, multiply, fill the earth 
and subdue it;" and this is all owing to that Creative Being whose essence 
has no foi-m and whose workings no sound. We are a peojjle of great 
destinies, and will ameliorate the condition of man throughout the world. 
We liviMii a land (jf facts, and are the graduate of the universe. 

A further evidence of our i-etinement is the deference shown to woman, 
whose goodness is less the result of circumstances than man, and less owing 



to culture or race. In refined society woman rises iu importance and is 
generally appreciated. Having been intended as the companion of man, 
how accurately she fulfills the design of the Creator. 

Our country is peculiarly one of masses, whose gatherings are truly 
sublime, mingling together in the dignity of individual choice and senti- 
ment, yet with_ the power of collective will, diffused over the entire 
country, occuiiying the entire recess, iutwined in every interest, and 
regulating every movement of national glory. Think of the millions 
of men, wherever they may dwell, tossed upon^he billows of either ocean, 
roughinglife on our lakes and rivers, chopping down the forest, plowing 
the prairie and ditching its swamp land ; with its many hands and strong 
arms, — in the fields, cities, factories, furnaces and mills, in the foundry, 
at the bench, at the lathe, at the forge, in the mines, in the quarries and 
ship-yards, no matter how lodged or clothed, whether it be a marble pal- 
ace on Fifth avenue, a log hut in Arkansas, or a dugout in Nebraska. 
Think of all these, and it gives us the proof of a greatness that no earthly 
conceptions can well outmeasure. 

80 long as the Declaration of Independence is understood and ap- 
preciated, so long will we endure as a nation. The custom of reviving 
our faith anjiually is a time-honored one. The Israelites annually observe 
Avith great reverence their deliverance from Egvptian bondage ; the 
Christian world annually celebrate the birth of Christ on the 25th of De- 
cember, and the loyal subjects celebrate the birthdays of their respective 
tyrants annually, or the anniversary of some great battle, in which, per- 
haps, their own liberties were stricken down. Eepublics have flourished 
in Greece and Rome, the fairest portions of the earth, but there are no traces 
in either now to be seen, and nothiug heard but the screech of the owl 
and the cry of the raven. The climate of these countries have under- 
gone no change, but the people have lost their love for free institutions 
which their liberties could not outlive. 

One hundred years have glided by since the experiment of man for 
self-government has been going on upon this continent, and its enemies 
admit that it is an eminent success. Some there are who find fixult, and one 
stump orator, while passing over this country, speaking to mixed audiences, 
in 1872, declared that we live in a despotism. This is simply incorrect, 
to speak mildly; but if it be des])Otisni, neitlier the country from which 
he emigrated, nor the people thereof, nor the people of any other country on 
God's green earth, was ever able to produce another despotism like it. 

The anniversary of the Fourth of July is an event which, as citi- 
zens, we should not disregard. We have the same reasons for its observ- 
ance that our predecessors had. We must watch over and guard the 
interest of our government like the emblematic eagle, with an eye that 
never winks and a wing that Tiever tires. We are the trustees to posterity. 
These blessings, founded uj)on the Declaration of Indejwndence, which 
we have received from those who have passed away, were to be by us jire- 
served and enjoyed in our day and generation, and transmitted by us to 
those who are to succeed us. 

With the injunctioji, " Be just and fear not, lot all the ends thou 
aimest at be thy country's, thy God's, and truth's," thus will our noble 
Government be transmitted f'rom father to son and from generation to 
generation down to the last syllable of recorded time. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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